


If You Love Someone

by Mutatedbunnies



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Spoilers, post-kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 10:51:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18467458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mutatedbunnies/pseuds/Mutatedbunnies
Summary: Roxas had a lot of time to think while tucked away inside Sora. The constant thought he had was "Axel", repeated within him like a mantra. He made up his mind: Once he could, he would tell him.Tell him everything.





	If You Love Someone

Sora’s heart was not a beach.

Being contained was painful. Floating without a body. Watching, but not really seeing. Listening, but not really hearing.

He was aware. Aware of everything Sora was going through. The trials. The tribulations. He couldn’t help. He couldn’t speak. He was lost to the outside world, as if he didn’t exist. His only solace was that they did know he existed, but they didn’t know how to reach him. He could hear it in Axel’s voice when he spoke about him. The desperation, the need. If Roxas could scream, he would.

He wasn’t alone in this deep pit of light. There were two others. One, a friend. The other, a boy lost long ago.

Sora’s heart was a collection bin for lost souls.

While dormant, Roxas had a lot of time to think.

He thought about Xion, the Nobody who wasn’t quite a Nobody. The shell that grew her own heart. His friend. No, not just one of his friends. One of his _best_ friends. The girl who had helped him through so much. The girl who had sacrificed so much for him. A friend who had sacrificed _everything_ for him.

He also thought about Naminé. Naminé, the pale artist who had risked everything to tell him who he was in that fake Twilight Town. She had only wanted to meet him, just once, before they were both returned to whence they came. He hadn’t known her long. He hadn’t had the pleasure of knowing her for long, but he considered her a friend. She was kind, quiet, but fierce. She was a graceful force of nature that could raze entire worlds. But all she wanted to do was help. And she did.

Next, his mind drifted to Kairi. He had only spoken to her a few times. He would not consider her a friend. The few words they exchanged only made him sorry for his host. That the girl he loved so much would forget him so easily. But, perhaps, that was because of Naminé’s strength.

After thinking about Kairi, his mind would always drift to Riku. He could never hold anything the boy who did this to him against him. When they clashed Keyblades, he could feel the passion within him, the determination he had to awake his friend. The person he cared most about. Roxas could relate now, in some way. Now, he wished Riku the best.

His consciousness often drifted to thoughts about Sora. His Somebody. Whatever that counted for these days. Roxas had grown his own heart apart from his brunette counterpart. And Sora… the loving fool. He wished the best for Roxas; he wanted to free Roxas without ever having truly met him. They had exchanged a few words before the final battle. He did everything to find a way to release him. But, what, exactly, could they do? The last time he released someone from his heart, he created Roxas. For all that Sora was, he wasn’t self-sacrificing for just anyone. No, that place was reserved strictly for Kairi. Anyone else would have to wait.

And finally, he thought about Axel.

Axel took up much of his thinking time.

He thought about the days when they would go on missions and get ice cream afterward. He thought about Axel, Xion, and him being the only three in the Organization to form a genuine bond with anyone. How their friendship helped them grow hearts. They were able to set themselves free from the empty husks they occupied with the love they felt for one another.

Heh.

Love.

Roxas thought about love a lot. Being within Sora’s very core allowed him to study what emotions truly felt like. He had felt his own, of course, but that had been under the guise that he truly couldn’t feel. That it was all false. A phantom emotion.

And Sora felt so _deeply_.

At first, Roxas would always get swept away by his Somebody’s feelings. No matter what Sora felt, he felt it passionately. If he was disappointed, it felt like a tidal wave was scooping up Roxas and throwing him under the surface, swallowing him until he couldn’t breathe. Happiness was a euphoria that could only be felt by an ant on a flower petal that was being carried to the end of the world by a friendly gust of wind. And love…

Love was a drop of cinnamon on the tongue, melting and spreading until his entire being was almost unbearably hot.

That was something the two of the had in common: the feeling of love.

Love is sometimes hard to recognize. It can hide in a smile, disguise itself as a gleam in the eye, or smuggle itself into a soft whisper in the ear after a long day. Love could be shrouded in words unspoken, only to be uncovered when it was too late. When you walked away from the one person you could ever truly love. The only one who had seen every side of you and still came for you.

Love was a name.

_Axel._

Roxas had to watch his friend’s desperate attempts to reclaim him. But it was too late. Fate was in motion before they had ever even met. Even though Roxas screamed, even though he cried, he couldn’t reach him. He was locked away like a virgin treasure, never to be seen again.

But Sora did it.

Sora, beautiful Sora, with his determination and unadulterated love for anyone who had so much as smiled at him, was able to free him. And none to soon. The final straw, the final push, was seeing Axel and Xion, struggling. His glass cage shattered, releasing him. A vessel was already waiting for him. All thanks to Sora.

Saving his friends was exhilarating. Fighting alongside them for the first time in a long time that didn’t feel so long, was beautiful. It was a choreographed dance number. And to meet Sora, to _truly_ meet him, was something else. But before Roxas could really thank him, he was gone.

When they could finally rest, when Xehanort had finally been defeated, he could truly relish in being with his friends. Being with _Axel._

The three of them hardly spent a moment away from each other. They even fell asleep in the same rooms, often on the floor, not wanting to be apart. But Roxas had something to say. Only to Axel.

He was thankful that Isa was added to their trio. When the awkwardness had passed, Roxas was finally able to steal away the object of his passions while Isa was distracting Xion.

“Axel… Can I talk to you?” He asked, nervously rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Sure, pal.” Axel simply turned to him, a lazy grin gracing his thin lips. Roxas nodded to a spot further away.

“Over there?” He suggested. Axel nodded, his eyebrows coming together in worry. They move to the more intimate spot, away from any listening ears.

“What’s wrong?” Was Axel’s first concern. Roxas shook his head, blond spikes bouncing.

“Nothing… I just… have something to say.” He looked into those eyes, the ones like green emeralds incased so delicately in glass and cursed to always show what their owner was thinking. “I had a lot of time to think… When I was in Sora.”

Fighting countless Heartless, turning his back on the Organization, coming back to life…

Nothing was quite as difficult as was this.

“Yeah?” Axel gently prompted.

“And I… I thought about you. A lot. And…” He took a breath. “You’re not a friend to me, Axel.”

Axel’s visage moved from concern to confusion, then to soft anger.

“I’m not your friend?” He asked. If he had not been under Roxas’s spell of quiet seriousness, he might have shouted.

The blond sighed.

“I said that wrong… You’re not _just_ a friend to me, Axel.” He swallowed. “I… I understand if it weirds you out, but I have to say it. I love you, Axel.”

For once, he couldn’t read those cat-like eyes.

There was a stillness between them. Roxas’s heart was beating so rapidly and heavily, that if his body had not been fake, it might have burst from his chest.

“You understand how I feel, then?” Axel asked, sounding almost defeated. It was Roxas’s turned to look confused.

“I don’t.” He said simply, unsure of what else to say.

Axel laughed.

He actually _laughed_ at him.

Seeing Roxas prickle up in his copyrighted fashion settled Axel’s sudden trill of laughter.

“Roxas, geez, Roxas. Isn’t it obvious how I feel?”

When said Nobody said nothing, Axel was forced to continue.

“I tried everything to get you back. I followed you to a fake world, I kidnapped someone… I sacrificed myself for _your_ Somebody because I knew you were in there somewhere. I believed you were in there. I had to… A world without you isn’t worth living in.”

Roxas blinked at him, stunned into silence.

“What I’m saying… is I love you too.” Axel gently ruffled his hair. “This is probably the part where we kiss, huh?”

Finally, Roxas was kickstarted back to life.

“Y-yes?” He offered awkwardly, spouting the first thing out of his mouth. Axel grinned and tilted his chin up.

“Here I come.” The redhead whispered before leaning down, their lips meeting for the first time.

If love was cinnamon, then a kiss was like honey.

It was soft, sweet, and Roxas felt like his lips were sticky, since they didn’t want to leave Axel’s. The mechanical function of his lungs suspended, air caught in his throat. He wanted nothing more than to be glued like this to his friend… his _love_ until his days ended.

But unfortunately, they had to part.

He opened his eyes, looking up at Axel, who, for once, didn’t look cocky. He was gazing down at him, face flushed and breathing heavily. If fate had torn them apart all that time ago, then fate brought them together again, making this meeting the sweetest of all.

There was a low whistle.

“I’ll be damned, it finally happened.” Xion called to them laughing, Isa snickering as well.

“You could’ve at least paid for the show!” Axel called back, trying to gain his composure once again.

“Let’s have an encore!” Isa baited.

Axel couldn’t help him.

“Gotta give the people what they want.” He grinned and kissed Roxas again, this time with so much passion that Roxas was forced backwards. When they parted, Roxas was pouting up at him. “What? Didn’t like it?”

“You’re impossible” He sighed, then smiled. “And I did like it.”

“Good. It’s going to happen a lot more often now that I can finally do it.” Axel smiled and ruffled his hair once more. “I’m not letting you go again. Ever.”

“I’m not leaving again. Ever.”

That was a promise he _could_ keep.

**Author's Note:**

> _Thanks for reading!_


End file.
